Challenge Accepted
by bluegames
Summary: In his mind, he could almost picture the words that would change his life forever taking form: Challenge accepted. Claire/OC, Claire/Shane endgame.
1. Chapter 1

Today was his first day in Morganville. His two years at the university didn't count- for half of it, he'd been oblivious, and the other half was spent being terrified of everything that moved. Not today. Today he got his Protector, and became an _official_ citizen of this screwed-up town. Not that he was complaining. It was better than hiding in his dorm room and hoping one of the vamps didn't grow the sudden urge to snack on a college kid.

And, yeah, he was still deathly afraid of the vampires, but he figured if he has _Oliver_ for Protection, he's set. From what he's heard from some of the locals, Oliver's one of the head badass bloodsuckers in town. Except for the Founder. That was a whole 'nother level of dangerous.

"Hey!" His guide's squeaky voice knocked him out of his reverie. "Kid, if your not even going to attention, I'm not going to bother to teach you a way to survive this place."

Sighing, he ran a hand through his mohawk, wishing this would just be over already so he could go crash at his new off-campus apartment. "Okay, man, whatever. Continue."

"As I was saying," here, the guide shot him a nasty look, which he replied to with one raised eyebrow, "over _there_ is the humans." He nodded his head toward the corner of the Founders Square, where a bunch of terrified/_terrifying_ people stood, clumped together in small groups. "Of course, they're all split up. See those people over in the _way_ corner with the bats and leather jackets?" He had to crane his neck, but he did. "Those are the anti-vamps. They want them completely gone. The other part is the _fangbangers_." Apparently, his guide thought the term was dumb, because he scoffed. "Anyway, they're right in the pocket of the vampires. Try to suck up to them as much as possible- no pun intended. And then there's people like us," he indicated towards the largest group, "The people who just want to survive."

"Uh huh," he muttered, scanning all the humans, trying to find some at least _interesting_ people to hang with. Although he didn't want to end up dead, he wasn't sure he wanted to shack up with his guide and his fearful-looking group just yet. Casting a quick glance at the nametag stuck proudly to his guide's shirt, he found his name was _Neil_. God, even his name was cowardly.

He spotted a group towards the center of the Square, right in the midst of the line that unofficially divided the vamps and humans. There were only four of them, two boys and two girls. Both the boys looked intimidating, just in different ways. The uber blonde one was decked out in anti-sun gear, long leather jacket and all. The other just seemed… wary, like he was ready to punch out anybody that came near to them. He could see why, though. Both sides – vampire and human- looked at them like they were scum at the bottom of their shoes.

At least the girls were nice to look at. The taller one dressed like Hot Topic's poster child, and the other wore simple jeans and a blouse. She seemed almost plain, standing next to the scary vamp guy, the _really_ scary human guy, and the Goth princess. But then she smiled, and his breath went out of his lungs.

"_Who_," he asked, turning towards Neil, "is _that_?"

Neil followed his gaze. "Oh no, man. Don't even go there."

"What? She's got a boyfriend or something?"

"Yeah," Neil said, like he was the densest person on Earth. "Like the nuclear bomb of all boyfriends."

"Damn it," he grumbled.

"What, you think a girl like her wouldn't? Not only is she gorgeous, but she's, like, the smartest person at TPU. Probably in the whole town. _And_, she's basically a super hero. She and her little posse of perfection have saved to town at least four times," Neil said.

"Huh," he said, watching her throw her head back in laughter at something the human guy said. She turned towards the Goth girl, and from across the Square, her eyes briefly caught his. The corner of her lips lifted, in just a shadow of the beautiful smile he'd seen earlier. But it was enough. In his mind, he could picture the words that would change his life forever taking form:

_Challenge accepted_.


	2. Chapter 2

The weeks passed by in a blur.

He worked, he worried, he scuttled home well before sunset _just in case_ like all the other walking, talking blood bags in this town. And apart from that first day, he didn't see the mystery girl again. But he did see her so-called 'posse of perfection'. Though from his view, they didn't seem so perfect.

The Goth girl, who he learned was named Eve, worked at the college coffee shop and had serious anger issues. The human guy with them was Shane and had the half female population pining after him and the other half hating his guts. He apparently made Eve's temper look small in comparison. Many times he'd be walking the streets at noon - the only time he ever felt really safe outside - and catch a snippet of conversation about some poor asshole who picked on one of the Glass House residents (another name for the group that was slowly becoming more and more interesting) and received Shane's wrath. The last, the vamp, had the most people talking about him. Neil, who had become his annoying sidekick, filled him in on the details. The vamp's name was Michael and he was the youngest of the undead population. And instead of siding with his fellow plasma-drinkers, he put himself from apart from both sides, putting himself in allegiance with only the Glass House.

The girls name was Claire. That was basically all he knew about her, besides being super smart, super brave, and having the best smile ever. Now matter how he pressed, Neil wouldn't reveal everything. Said it was for his own good. His other source of info, the Common Grounds, didn't say much either. People talked about her, but in hush whispers. All he heard would be her name before the people talking dropped their voices to an inaudible level. Like there was this huge secret surrounding her.

Well, what did he know? Maybe there was.


	3. Chapter 3

"_Stop staring_," Neil hissed, narrowing his already squinty eyes.

"What?" he responded, jerking to attention. Neil glared again before continuing, "Stop staring at Claire. You're making it kind of obvious."

He wanted to. He wanted Claire to notice him, wanted her to know that there was other guys interested in her other than her oh-so-mysterious boyfriend.

But he couldn't let Neil know that unless he wanted to suffer through another 'Claire is the most un-single person on the planet and you should pretend she doesn't exists at. all. Don't think, dream, or breathe in her direction' lecture.

So instead he grumbled, "Whatever," and looked away.

Not even two minutes later, a voice broke him out of his brooding.

"Hey," a sweet voice said. When he looked up, he saw that the owner of it was even sweeter. Tall, tan, and blonde. A definition hottie.

"Hey," he said back, smiling at her.

"So," the girl said, giving Neil a disgusted glare as she dropped into the seat next to him, "What's your name?"

"Eli. What's yours?"

"Monica Morrell. My brother's the mayor, you know."

He did know. The people talked about Monica and her brother with hatred and fear. He intended to stay far away from them, but again, he didn't Monica was this hot then.

"Cool. So, do you - "

"Yo, Head Bitch," yet another high, musical voice interjected. "I know you're basically a dog in heat, like, _all the time_, but go find another boy to seduce."

Eli turned around, only to be met with the Eve, decked out in black. Before he could say that Monica wasn't seducing him, he was seducing _her_, he caught a glimpse of Claire watching on with a wide-eyed expression and stayed silent.

"_What_?" Monica growled, standing up.

"You heard me. Scram."

"You'll regret this, bitch," she sneered before turning around and disappearing with one last hair flip.

"Wow," Eve said, plunking down into the seat Monica abandoned. "Usually it takes more than that. Wonder what's going on with Little-Miss-Evil…"

Neil, for all his warnings, was staring at her with an adoring expression on his face. Hypocrite.

"Um," he cleared his throat awkwardly and Eli had to choke down a laugh. "Why did you do that?"

"Oh," Eve frowned. "Well…"

Claire approached the table, giving them one of her amazing smiles. "Because we felt bad for you, that's why. I noticed you're fairly new here and Monica is _not_ someone you want to get involved with. She threw me down stairs, once."

"Woah. Kinda harsh," he said, thanking God his voice didn't shake.

"Yeah," she laughed, "you could say that."

As all this was happening, Eve was checking her phone. Out of his peripheral vision, he saw her eyes widen to an almost anime-like degree.

"CB," she said, standing up as abruptly as Monica did. "We gotta go. Just got a 9-1-1 from Michael. It's about _the thing_."

"Crap," Claire muttered.

"Yeah," Eve said, as if that settled it.

They hurried away, steps purposeful and long.

"Wait," he heard Claire mutter. She jogged back to his and Neil's table.

"I didn't get your names," she said as Eve gave her a what-the-hell-are-you-doing stare.

"I- I'm Neil," Neil stammered.

"And I'm Eli," he said, giving Claire his best smirk.

She just smiled back, totally unaffected, and said right before she ran to catch up with Eve, "I'm Claire."


End file.
